On Tuesday, the Lancaster County School District Board named Anita Watts as new principal of A.R. Rucker Middle School.
Since last fall, Kathy Richardson served as interim principal after former principal Phillip Mickles took another position in the school district.
After interviewing three candidates, superintendent Dr. Gene Moore recommended Watts for the job, which was unanimously approved (7-0) by the board, said school district spokesman David Knight.
Watts has nearly 23 years of experience in education, including 13 years at A.R. Rucker Middle.

Twenty-two adult-education students wearing different colored caps and gowns graduated Wednesday night at Lancaster High School.
They represented 22 different ways to get to their destination.
Holding up a cell phone during his speech, keynote speaker Rev. AnThony Pelham told the graduates, “Without an address, GPS is no good.”
These adult graduates definitely had this destination dialed in, and it led them through life’s backroads and detours. For some, the journey took a few months. For others, a few years.

The 10-point grading scale, mandated by the state last month for high schools, will take effect for all Lancaster County public schools beginning with the 2016-17 school year, the Lancaster County school board announced Tuesday night.
“We would like to have the consistency across the board in the grading system,” Lancaster school Superintendent Gene Moore said.
When school starts in August, the current 7-point scale will stop and the 10-point will begin. Parents will receive written notice with final report cards this semester.

Little is expected to change in S.C. public schools in response to the recent directive from the Obama administration on the civil rights of transgender students, according to state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman.
The federal directive, in the form of a May 13 letter from the Justice and Education departments, told public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. The Obama administration said the letter was in response to school leaders seeking direction on the matter.

Lancaster County School District honored its finest students and educators during the 19th-annual Celebration of Excellence banquets held this week at the Second Baptist Church Family Ministry Center.
“I really enjoy joining you in celebrating great things these students do in classrooms across our district. These students truly represent excellence in academics,” said Dr. Gene Moore, district superintendent.

Lancaster County teachers would get 2 percent raises for the 2016-17 school year – their first since 2013 – under the school district’s proposed budget.
The Lancaster County school board met and reviewed the proposed $97.9 million budget May 2, said Tony Walker, the district’s chief financial officer. The school budget is based on the state’s projected budget, which won’t be complete until the end of June. State law requires the schools’ budget to be final by July 1.

Walking across the stage of the University of South Carolina Lancaster’s Bundy Auditorium wasn’t optional for Joseph Hammond on Saturday.
It was something he had to do.
After going to school part-time since 2008 to earn a bachelor’s degree, the summa cum laude graduate enjoyed every second of shaking hands with USCL Dean Walt Collins.
“This day means a lot, but it means even more for my family,” said Hammond, a father of two, who works at Resolute Forest Products in Catawba.